O God, by your Holy Spirit you moved Teresa of Avila to manifest to your Church the way of perfection: Grant us, we pray, to be nourished by her excellent teaching, and enkindle within us a keen and unquenchable longing for true holiness; through Jesus Christ, the joy of loving hearts, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

My focus for the children's time will not be to glorify Teresa's life but to show how her life points to Jesus. I hope that they will see a women, who though beautiful, witty and popular, gave her life to God, desiring a vivid sense of His Presence in her life. If they were older, we would talk more about the complexities of her attempt to do this through a strict and perhaps extreme devotion, but for now I will just share the broader point that she was willing to live humbly and simply to avoid the distractions of the world. Although Teresa's spirituality is not my own, I hope my daughter will be especially captivated by Teresa's work in and for the church.

Activity Ideas:

Create your own bookmark with Teresa's words or the Scripture of the day. This would be good copywork for those who can write but for my little guy I will just write the words and he can decorate the bookmark.